Machine for cleaning bags.



N. E. GARDNER.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING BAGS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 3. 1909.

956,523, Patented May 3, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N. E. GARDNER.

MACHINE FOR. CLEANING BAGS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 3. 1909.

956,523; Patented May 3, 1910.

(3 7 jjSHBBTW-SHEET 2. 1 AZ, (9 l l "H" i i ,1? 15 Z7 70 1' JJ I a I 5'01417- 17 Q J] if 15 9 witness NORMAN E. GARDNER, OF EAS'ION,PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING-BAGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 3, 1909.

Patented May 3, 1910. Serial No. 487,640.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN E. GARDNER,

I a citizen of the United States, residing at Easton, in the county ofNorthampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulMachine for Cleaning Bags, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for cleaning fabric bags of that typeused for holding grain and the like, one of the objects of the inventionbeing to provide a machine of this type designed to thoroughly beat thebags so as to drive the dust therefrom, this beating operationcontinuing as long as desired, means being provided whereby, upon thecompletion of the cleaning operation, the bags may be thrown from themachine.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certainnovel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter morefully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings :Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation andpartly in section, of the complete machine. Fig. 2 is a top plan viewthereof on a reduced scale, a portion of the upper plies of the beltbeing broken away. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine, the rearportion of the upper ply of the belt and the rear supporting rollerthereof being removed.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates a framesuitably constructed and within which is journaled a shaft 2 havingspaced disks 3 fixedly secured thereon and connected by inner and outerannular series of cross-rods 4L and 5 respectively disposed in staggeredrelation. These cross-rods constitute supports for a band 6 preferablyformed of wire fabric and which is extended around the rods and betweenthe disks, said band being of the same width as the space between thedisks, and, inasmuch as it is secured to all the rods 4 and 5, forms aplurality of concavities 7, shown particularly in Fig. 1. The screen 6may be secured in any suitable manner to the rods as, for example, bysewing the same thereto by means of wire thread 8.

Mounted on standards 9 disposed in front of the frame 1 is a rook-bar10, in which rods 11 are slidably mounted, these rods being connected attheir inner ends to a drawhead 12 having brackets 13 extending from itsends. These brackets constitute bearings for a shaft 14 on which a spool15 is journaled. Springs 16 extend around the rods 11 and bear at oneend against the rock-bar 10 while their other ends bear againstadjusting nuts 17 screwed on to the rods.

Upper and lower spools 18 and 19 respectively are j ournaled within therear portion of the frame 1, and standards 20 are arranged below thedrum formed by the disks 3 and the fabric 6 and constitute bearings fora shaft 23 carrying a guide spool 24:. Another shaft 25 is journaledwithin the upper portion of the front of frame 1 and carries a guidespool 26. An endless belt 27 extends under the spools 19 and 24 andpartly around the spool 15, from which it extends between the disks 3and partly around the drum. Said belt then extends forwardly under andpartly around the spool 26 from which it passes over the spool 18 andthence down to the spool 19. It will be apparent therefore that when thedrum is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 thebelt will be operated as indicated by arrows and the lower intermediateply thereof will thus operate to feed material between the belt and thelower portion of the fabric 6.

The shaft 25 constitutes a bearing for arms 28 and 29, from which issuspended an angular box 30 constituting a normally fixed separator,that face of the separator nearest the drum being preferably providedwith a reticulated covering such as indicated at 31 and whichfacilitates the separation of dust, etc. from bags thrown against saidcovering. The arms 28 and 29 are L-shaped and designed to bear againstthe front of the frame 1, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, so as to limit theinward swinging movement of the separator 30. One of the arms 28 has anextension 32 projecting beyond the bearing or fulcrum of the arm and theactuating cord or chain 33 is attached to this extension. By pullingdown on the cord the separator can be swung outwardly. By referring toFig. 1 it will be noticed that the separator 30 is disposed directlybelow the plane occupied by the upper intermediate ply. of the belt 27.This is for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

The drum formed by the disks 3 and the fabric 6 is designed to beactuated in any preferred manner, preferably by means of a belt mountedon a pulley secured to one end of a shaft 2. A grooved wheel 85 issecured to the shaft 2 and drives a crossed belt 238 mounted on theupper grooved wheel 37. This last mentioned wheel is secured to a shaft38 journaled within the frame 1 and directly below the separator 30,said shaft being provided with a beater 39 having a series of radialblades as indicated in Fig. 1. Openings 0 are preferably formed withinthe disks 3.

In using the machine herein described the shaft- 2 is set in motion andthe belt 27 caused to travel in the direction indicated by the arrows.The bag or bags to be cleaned are then placed between the beater 39 andthe separator 30, and inasmuch as this beater is rapidly rotated by thebelt 36 it will be apparent that the same will throw the bag downwardlyon to the lower inter mediate ply of the belt, which will operate toconvey the bag between said ply and the fabric 6. Any dust separatedfrom the bag during this operation will pass through the fabric and intothe middle portion of the drum. The bag will be carried by the belt overthe upper portion of the drum and will be thrown violently against thescreen face 31 of the separator 30. A portion of the dust will thus bebeaten from the bag and said bag will then drop on to the beater 89which will again throw it on to the lower intermediate ply of the belt,whereupon the foregoing operation will be repeated. This operation canbe carried out as long as desired, and when the operator considers thebag to be sutliciently clean he may pull upon the cord 33 so as to swingthe separator 30 upwardly away from the frame 1. It will be seentherefore that the next time the bag is projected forwardly from betweenthe drum and the upper intermediate ply of the belt it will passoutwardly through the opening formerly occupied by the box. As soon asthe cord 33 is released the separator 30 will return to its initialposition, whereupon another bag may be placed in the machine and cleanedin the manner heretofore described.

Obviously various changes may be made in the construction andarrai'igement of the parts without departing from the spirit orsacrificing the advantages of the invention.

What is claimed is 1. In a machine of the class described, an actuatingdrum, an endless belt extending partly around the drum, a normally sta--tionary stop for intercepting objects discharged from between the drumand belt, and revoluble means adjacent the stop for directing theintercepted bags between the drum and the belt.

2. In a machine of the class described an actuating drum, an endlessbelt extending partly around the drum, a normally stationary reticulatedscreen for intercepting objects discharged from between the drum andbelt and revoluble means adjacent the screen for directing theintercepted bags between the drum and the belt.

3. A machine of the class described including a supporting structure, adrum mounted for rotation therein, a belt extending partly around thedrum, a normally stationary reticulated screen adjacent the belt and thedrum and disposed in the path of objects discharged from between thebelt and the drum, said screen having a reticulated covering and abeater mounted for rotation between the separator and the belt.

4. A machine of the class described including a supporting structure, adrum mounted for rotation therein, and having a reticulated peripheralportion, an endless belt extending partly around said drum and bearingon said peripheral portion, a normally stationary reticulated screeninter posed bet-ween portions of the belt and adj acent the drum and inthe path of objects discharged from between the drum and the belt, and arotary beater below the screen and adjacent the belt.

5. A machine of the class described including a supporting structure, adrum mounted for rotation within the structure and having a reticulatedperipheral portion, an endless belt extending partly around the drum,portions of the belt being extended in one direction from the drum andspaced apart, and a normally stationary screen interposed between thespaced portions of the belt and in the path of objects discharged frombetween the drum and the belt.

6. A machine of the class described, including a supporting structure, adrum mounted for rotation therein, and having a reticulated peripheralportion, an endless belt extending partly around the drum and havingportions thereof extended in the same direction and spaced apart, apivotally supported, normally stationary stop interposed between thesaid spaced portions of the belt and having a reticulated coveringdisposed in the path of objects discharged from between the belt and thedrum.

7. A machine of the class described including a supporting structure, adrum mounted for rotation therein and having outlet openings in theheads thereof, said drum being provided with an irregular reticulatedperipheral portion, an endless belt extending partly around and bearingupon the peripheral portion of the drum and having oppositely disposedlooped portions projecting in one direction beyond the drum, a pivotallysupported, normally stationary stop interposed between said loopedportions as my own, I have hereto aflixecl my signaalllld having 2110retieullatid cover displgsed in ture in the presence of two Witnesses. te path of 0 jects cisc arged from etWeen the drum and the belt, and arotary beater NORMAN GARDNER 5 interposed between the said stop and oneof WVitnesses:

the loops of the belt. FRANK L. LESHER,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing E. C. WELLER.

